McCarthy may turn to celebrities to help combat police mistrust

January 09, 2013|By John Byrne, Chicago Tribune reporter

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, second from right, and Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy look over a display of confiscated weapons at a news conference Tuesday. McCarthy is eager to find ways to get residents more willing to cooperate with police. (Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune)

McCarthy said he has "spoken to a number of (celebrities) and they're all very interested" in becoming spokespeople for a campaign to persuade Chicagoans to cooperate with police. He would not give names, but did say that Rose, who grew up in crime-plagued Englewood before achieving NBA fame, is the type of star who might be able to get through to young Chicagoans.

Coming off a year in which Chicago saw homicides jump 16 percent to 506, McCarthy said he's trying to figure out how to get through to people. A Tribune investigation in August found that Chicago police had suspended nearly 80 percent of their investigations into nonfatal shootings through the first seven months of 2012 because victims wouldn't cooperate.

It's not the first time in recent months that the Police Department has brought in outside voices in an effort to curb violence. City officials gave a $1 million grant last year to CeaseFire, an organization that uses ex-felons to mediate gang disputes. McCarthy has been critical of CeaseFire, saying the group undermines police. On Tuesday he was more supportive of the idea of using celebrities.

"Who is it that these kids would listen to? It's not going to be Garry McCarthy. Maybe it will be Derrick Rose, I don't know," McCarthy said. "This is all under examination. It's something that we're looking to develop. It's not off the ground yet."

The superintendent acknowledged Tuesday that part of the reluctance to share information about crimes can be traced to mistrust stemming from incidents like the infamous cases of torture by former Cmdr. Jon Burge. He said many of the high-profile police abuse cases happened before he got here, and said he's working to improve accountability.

"We have gotten black eyes recently based on incidents that happened long before we got here," he said. "Early in the '90s, you name the scandal, they're all coming to fruition now. The fact is, I can't fix that. I can't go back and change what happened with Jon Burge. But what I can do is focus on the behavior of our officers today."

Asked about a recent $99,000 settlement the city reached with a man who claimed he was wrongly arrested by Chicago police in 2010 on charges of selling heroin, McCarthy said he wasn't prepared to say police acted improperly in that instance. But he said it's important to have strong disciplinary standards to try to ensure that officers behave on the job.

The superintendent was with Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the Grand Crossing police station to give an update on changes to the community policing program.